It's Unfortunate

Apparently, that’s the deepest intellectual and philosophical assessment of abortion that we’re going to get from the current editorial board of the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Unfortunate.

Over 55 million abortions are unfortunate.

In its latest iteration on the taking of unborn lives, the RTD editors do take the Democrat Party to task for its extremism on the issue. What was once the party of “safe, legal and rare” has become the party, in the RTD’s words, of seeing abortion as “a wonderful thing” that you have to “like” to be accepted into the fold. Oh, and society should pay for it as well, since it’s a “force for social good.”

But while dismissing Democrats as extreme on the issue (they have of course said the same thing about Republicans), the editors attempt to stake the moral high ground by dismissing everyone else as extreme without explaining their own position, proving once again that they simply aren’t in the same intellectual league as their predecessors.

The editorialists make the passing claim that abortion is unfortunate without actually saying why. Such analysis would, one would assume, require the omniscient (they do, after all, reading this piece, know the motives of people without ever asking them) writers to ask and answer tough questions that their social media depth analysis simply can’t handle.

The bottom line is, either an unborn child is a human being with intrinsic value or it isn’t. If they aren’t, then abortion isn’t “unfortunate,” it’s irrelevant.

But if the unborn child is a human being with intrinsic value, abortion is far more than simply unfortunate. It isn’t just the taking of a human life. It’s the elevation of the value of one human life over another.

In other words, on whichever side you sit, abortion is anything but unfortunate.

Perhaps the editors would take the cowardly approach of Tim Kaine, saying they personally oppose abortion (why if it isn’t taking a human life?) but “it’s the law of the land” or whatever. Or worse, claim that determining the value of an unborn life is “above their pay grade.”

Whatever the case, RTD’s editors either don’t have the guts to take on the debate or the intellectual fire power to make a strong case.

Every Minute Counts

Every Minute Counts

Hypocrisy reigns within the Virginia Board of Health, with the latest example coming again from pro-abortion members of the Board appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe.

At last week’s Board meeting, some once-aggressive members appointed by McAuliffe were extremely grieved over attempts to correct the official minutes from the October meeting at which the Board voted to eviscerate abortion center health and safety standards. At that October meeting, the Board rushed through several amendments to the standards with little or no discussion, including some amendments that had not been seen by Board members until that day. Yet, the amendments were nearly all adopted without pro-abortion members needing any time at all to consider their implications.

But at last week’s meeting, when members of the Board who had objected to the amendments and had repeatedly made the case that the Board was acting illegally wanted the official minutes of the October Board meeting to clearly and accurately reflect their concerns, they were rebuffed. Incredibly, the same Board members who needed no time whatsoever to contemplate adopting consequential amendments to the health and safety standards that put women’s health at risk pleaded for time to “absorb” and contemplate the amendments to the minutes! Apparently, the official record of the meeting was suddenly something of import – even more so than the health and safety standards themselves.

Perhaps pro-abortion members needed to go to their “safe-spaces” to be able to handle something as emotionally traumatizing as the truth.

Or, maybe, the McAuliffe-appointed members know a lawsuit is in the wings and they don’t want the fact that they violated the law reflected in the official record? Could it be that the administration and its appointees (along with the Attorney General’s office who advises the Board) are well aware of their violations of the law and are now doing all they can to try to cover it up? Why not simply allow the minutes to reflect the reality of what happened at the October meeting? After all, if the objections to the votes were without merit, what’s the downside?

From the beginning, the McAuliffe administration’s desperate efforts to appease Planned Parenthood and the $1 billion abortion industry have been tainted with politics, incompetence and illegality. Last week’s actions by McAuliffe’s litmus-tested pro-abortion Board members is just the latest example; one that reeks of fear.

Safe Spaces for Sex Trafficking

Safe Spaces for Sex Trafficking

Much-needed focus continues to be placed on the travesty of human trafficking. In Virginia, it was recently announced that the Attorney General’s office is receiving a $1.45 million federal grant to help combat the plague of human trafficking in the Commonwealth, including funding for a new anti-human trafficking coordinator. According to the Washington Times, officials are creating a task force that will “seek to assist victims, investigate and prosecute crimes and raise awareness about the problem in the [Hampton Roads] region and across the state.”

All things considered, I’d say it is money well spent in furtherance of putting an end to this modern-day slave trade, having the potential to rescue many lives from the throes of unspeakable bondage. Human trafficking is not only an issue everyone should care about deeply; it’s an evil for which the government has an affirmative duty to abolish and prevent. And given that Virginia had the 13th most cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline through June 30 according to Attorney General Mark Herring’s office, Virginia is a prime place to focus these efforts.

Yet given actions of Virginia’s Attorney General, and in light of what we know about human trafficking as it relates to sex trafficking and abortions, I have sadly little confidence his office will do all that can be done to combat this horror.

One of the Attorney General’s earliest “opinions” protected abortion industry workers from having to report possible cases of sex abuse of minors – which by default would include young victims of human trafficking. This was done after inspections found a Roanoke abortion center was not obtaining parental consent for abortions in some cases – including 13 and 14-year old children. (That abortion center, in a recent inspection, wasn’t even training its staff on how to identify potential victims of sex abuse/human trafficking).

How am I supposed to believe that the Attorney General is doing all he can do to combat human trafficking if he’s willing to prevent abortion centers that exist on the I-81 corridor – notorious for human trafficking – from having to report child sexual assault?

Now, within the past month the State Board of Health, at the apparent direction and aid of Mark Herring’s office, gutted much of the health and safety standards required of abortion centers in the state, with the clear effect – if not specific intent – of giving abortion centers a ‘free pass’ from state inspectors.

Among the numerous amendments made to the regulations, the Commissioner of Health has been granted the sole and absolute power to grant a temporary or permanent waiver of ANY of the regulations for abortion centers. That includes the center’s obligation to maintain patient records which must, among other things, include “1. Patient identification; 2. Admitting information, including patient history and physical examination; [and] 3. Signed consent” (12VAC5-412-300). This means that the abortion center could lawfully be permitted to not record a single thing about a female patient that could otherwise provide staff with evidence that she is a victim of sex-trafficking and/or that she is being forced to have an abortion for that reason.

Another change strips the power of the Department of Health to enforce most of the provisions of state law related to requirements for abortion centers. These include critical reporting requirements for things such as suspected abuse, neglect, or serious threats to the patient’s health or safety (§ 32.1-127.1:03-04). These requirements exist, in no small part, to be a powerful tool in exposing human sex-trafficking by medical professionals who are specially trained in its detection and who are uniquely-positioned to encounter its victims. Yet the Attorney General actively sought to guarantee those tools were eliminated when abortion centers are involved. And even though each abortion center would still be obligated to follow state law, if the Department isn’t enforcing these requirements through its periodic inspections, then in many cases there is no enforcement and abortionists have little incentive to comply.

The economic reality is that abortion centers profit from the international human sex-trafficking enterprise. Among other consequences, sex-trafficking directly results in unwanted pregnancies by people who are committed to eliminating that “problem.” And where do you think they turn? That’s right - their local Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. Therefore, economically speaking, abortion centers have every incentive to not expose abortions related to sex trafficking when they suspect it. Isn’t it interesting then, that Virginia’s Governor and Attorney General have spent the last three years working to ensure that Virginia’s abortion centers need not worry about the law impeding on those profits?

Many on the Left like to talk about “safe spaces” when it comes to some things like speech and expression. Upon closer review, it appears that some are equally committed to ensuring similar safe zones for human sex-traffickers. We know these safe zones as abortion “clinics.” Mind you, they are not safe at all for children in the womb or their abused and destitute mothers who carry them. But we’ll just have to overlook that for the sake of uninhibited “access to reproductive healthcare,” even if that happens to include unfettered access to human traffickers.

One Day. One Voice. One Purpose.

One Day. One Voice. One Purpose.

I don’t know about you, but my heart aches every time I hear about an orphan or child in foster care in desperate need of a family. But I also rejoice when I see a family come to the rescue of a child in need. I have family and friends who have adopted and it’s always exciting to see.

November is National Adoption Month, and Sunday, November 13th is Orphan Sunday, opportunities for churches and families to emphasize the need for more families to open their hearts and homes to kids in need of a forever family. Not every family can adopt, but we can all help those who wish to by supporting organizations and ministries that support and facilitate adoption.

Or, maybe your family can adopt. Right now there are approximately 10,000 churches in Virginia and, according to the Christian Alliance for Orphans, there are approximately 1,500 kids in foster care that need a permanent family. That means, if a single family in one in six churches Virginia adopted one child out of Virginia’s foster care system, there would be more families asking for a child than there are children in foster care awaiting adoption.

Think about that for a moment.

Frankly, if just the churches on The Family Foundation’s email list had a family that adopted a foster child in need of a forever family, there would be no kids left in need of a home!

But that’s just part of the need. There are children all over the world in desperate need of adoption, and simply not enough families opening their hearts and doors to this growing challenge. I’m excited to say that in recent years the church in America has awakened to this need and has responded! Christian giving to orphan care is growing at unprecedented rates, but more is needed. And more families are needed.

If you’re a pastor, I encourage you to focus on adoption on Orphan Sunday, November 13th. You can learn more about this worldwide emphasis by clicking here. The goal is to have one day when we are all speaking with one voice for one purpose, to help orphans across the globe.

James tells us that, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” What better way to fulfill the first half of James’s statement than to adopt an orphan or child who needs a family?

I pray that you and your family will consider adoption or support adoption efforts!